Ethiopia
Italy again promises to return Axum obelisk

afrol News, 20 July - Looted by Italian dictator and empire-builder Benito Mussolini in 1937, the 2000-year-old Axum obelisk has soured Italian-Ethiopian relations for half a century. Several promises to return the treasure decorating the Roman Piazza di Porta Capena have not been lived up to, but now the Italian government seems to be preparing its shipment. 

The rightwing Rome government of Silvio Berlusconi last year created a storm when it went back on earlier promises to return the most powerful symbol of Ethiopia's history and nationality. Italy's Culture Minister, Vittorio Sgar, even announced the change of heart in the most humiliating manner: Ethiopia was a war zone, a poor country and did not have the expertise to maintain and restore the obelisk. It was better kept in Italy. 

A succession of incidents has made Sgar and Berlusconi change their mind. Ethiopia won international support for their campaign against Rome's "neo-colonist" views. The Italian argument of the obelisk being safer in Rome than in its Axum home in May was literary blasted by a lightening causing great damage to the obelisk. The Ethiopian government was outraged by the destruction and is demanding its repair.

The sign from above initiated an Italian change of mind. Minister Sgar was quoted saying, since the obelisk "has already been damaged we might as well give it back." Now, a Rome cabinet meeting has taken the formal decision of returning the obelisk, and detailed plans are already being made on how to return the colossal monument without causing too much damage, according to a government statement. 

The problem is that much damage has already been made to the obelisk. The obelisk, measuring 180 tons and 24 metres height, was first torn down, and thus damaged, during a Muslim revolt in the 16th century. Later, the Italian occupying forces organised the transport of the fragments of the Obelisk to Italy. The transport reportedly put the Italian army and vehicles carrying the heavy fragments to the test. 

Once in Rome, Italian art conservators gave the monument an irreversible treatment, which will mark the Obelisk for the rest of its existence. The fragments were put together by iron bars in its interior, making any future non-damaging dismantle impossible. Given its enormous weight when in one piece, any overland transport of the monument is also made impossible. 

The latest damage to the monument now standing outside the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome was made at the May thunderstorm. A fatal lightening caused a large chunk of stone from the top of the obelisk to brake off and smash on to the ground. The accident has made the monument even more fragile as more of the superficial carved geometrical motifs could flake off. 

Further complicating the transport is that there are only two types of aircrafts being able to transport such a heavy and large item; the American Lockheed C5-A Galaxy and the Russian Antonov An-124. There however remains the problem that the airfield in Axum is too short for these airplanes to land on and further details of a transport back thus still remain an open question. 

The Axum obelisk is biggest in a group of six obelisks, erected as funeral monuments in the ancient capital of Axum as Ethiopia converted to Christianity during the reign of Emperor Ezana, in the mid-forth century. For Christian Ethiopians, the monument has become the most important icon of Ethiopian culture. 

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